Saturday, September 4, 2010

things i've discovered:

- i will be teaching grades 3 & 4 english. wooooo! o in grade 3 there are approximately 160 students, meaning that I will be teaching two sections of 80 kids. intimidating? yes.

o in grade 4 there are about 140 students, with about 70 kids in each section. still intimidating. let’s just say that my discipline and classroom management will definitely be stretched. it could be amusing ☺

o there are 7 class periods monday-thursdays. i will teach 4 periods each day. every friday is market day in butajira (7 miles away, but about a 35 min drive on extremely rough roads) so the school day is shortened to 6 class periods

- a couple times a week (during those class periods in which i’m not teaching my grade 3 & 4 students) i will get to walk about a mile up the road to the kindergarten facility and provide some fun english teaching through songs and other methods of teaching. i’m super excited about this!

- the house kiddos love uno. and singing songs such as “ten little monkeys jumping on the bed”.

- my ball handling skills in basketball will be put to the test by some of these 11 year old guys. our game of 6 on 6 showed me that.

- skype is illegal in ethiopia. bummer.

- it’s the rainy season. it rains everyday. sometimes for a little bit, sometimes for a while, and usually every night. this results in lots of mud. lots.

- there is a strong desire among the high school-age students to evangelize to the community. as one student put it, ‘God gave us the great commission to be put into action here on earth. once we are in heaven we no longer can share about His glory and grace’.

- time and flexibility go hand in hand here. this is something i’m having to adjust to, learning that the ways i am accustomed to are not exactly the case here. a sweet ethiopian lady said it best when we were talking about the value of time in this culture, “what’s more important is now, not next”. may we cherish the now and not look too far into what’s next. after all, God is the one who is in control.

something to consider…

“The Lord your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing” -Zephaniah 3:17

3 comments:

Elizabeth!!!I love your writings and what you have shared so far! It is so inspiring to read about what you are doing and also about what God is teaching you through another culture. The people there sound far wiser than we are over here. Thank you for sharing little tidbits with us -- they are truly words to try to live by. You are going to change lives (and MANY!) daily through your sweet spirit and excellent teaching style.Much love!Aunt Betsy

Elizabeth!! Thanks so much for taking the time to blog, I know how hard that can be to make yourself attempt to summarize everything. :) It is such a joy to read about how different everything is... I am so excited for you!

Sweet Elizabeth, what fun for us to read about this wonderful journey for you. You will definately be changing lives but I think they will be changing yours even more!! What a blessing! I have a feeling that those classes will not seem as large as the eagerness of the children will provide their own discipline to stay on task and maintain their focus. I will pray for you not to become too overwhelmed by so many wanting a bit of Elizabeth! :) I loved the Woman's comments and will try and bring some of that Ethiopian wisdom to Lenawee! (maybe just the Jacobs' house to start with!)We pray for you every day, give those house kids an extra hug from us!love ya,Kendie